UNION COLLEGE DONOR PROFILE: MARY ALICE LAY
As the 2015 spring semester came to a close, Mary Alice Lay announced she was retiring from Union College. A few weeks following her announcement, Union staff held a reception to honor Lay and her achievements throughout her career. The reception brought many friends, family members, former students and co-workers to the Sharp Academic Center, just a short distance from her office and classroom, to wish Lay well and to shower her with hugs and gifts. It is customary that retiring Union staff and faculty be given an elegant, wooden rocking chair to enjoy during the next phase of their life. When President Marcia Hawkins unveiled Lay’s rocking chair, Lay thanked Dr. Hawkins and paused briefly for a photo, but she didn’t sit in the chair. That moment, that subconscious non-action, might tell all one needs to know about Mary Alice Lay and her devotion to the college – in 54 years she has never sat down on Union. She doesn’t plan to any time soon, retired or not. Mary Alice Lay began her teaching career at Union College in 1961. Her connection with the college began much sooner. She walked past the college everyday while she was a student at Barbourville City Elementary School. She skated down the Legacy Walk in front of Centennial Hall with her friends and rode | 4 | Union College Honor Roll of Donors
bicycles around campus. In high school, Lay took her first job at Union – waiting tables for 25 cents an hour in the basement dining room of the Classroom Building (Centennial Hall) for guests visiting campus. Her parents met at Union, graduated from Union and included Union in many of their family conversations. In all, more than 20 of Lay’s family members have attended Union College with the third generation graduating in recent years. “Union College is a family jewel to us,” Lay said. “We love Union and pray for the college’s continued success.” Lay said no one in her family ever told her to go to college or told her to become a teacher; it was just instinctive for her. Most of her immediate family members were teachers, and Lay feels she was “just born to teach.” “I remember coming home from school and teaching my dolls the lessons we had learned that day,” she said. Lay began her coursework at Union and completed her education at the University of Kentucky. The summer she graduated from college and returned